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School & District Management Opinion

K-12Lead of the Week (1)

By Marc Dean Millot — December 04, 2007 3 min read
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Two RFPs The Bureau of Indian Education Doesn’t Want You to See?From the December 3 Issue of K-12Leads and Youth Service Markets Report.

Announcement: RMK0E080007 - Professional Education Consulting Services for the Bureau of Indian Education’s (BIE) Reading First Education Enhancement Program, Due December 7 (Nov 30), US Department of the Interior

Their Description:

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) serves as a state education agency (SEA) for 184 elementary and secondary schools and dormitories serving approximately 48,000 students located in 23 states on 63 American Indian reservations.

This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.... The proposed contract is a Total Small Business Set-Aside....

Scope of Work.... Provide all travel, supplies, materials and personnel to provide Professional Education Consulting Services for the BIE Reading First Education Enhancement Program..... The Governments intends to award... contracts for a basic year and two option years. The period of performance for the base year is from December 15, 2007 through November 30, 2008.... Multiple awards shall be made. Awards shall be made to companies to provide one or more objectives delineated under the Objectives section of the SOW.... The minimum value of each contract shall be... not less than $500.00. The maximum value of each IDIQ contract shall be... not more than $500,000.00....

This scope of work calls for professional education consulting services to assist the BIE with implementation of a strategic plan to improve academic outcomes for students in the areas of reading and math and improve the instructional leadership abilities of BIE school principals.... The strategic plan outlines the provision of intensive support to schools in the areas of reading instruction, math instruction, data analysis, curriculum alignment and mapping, and effective instructional leadership practices....

The contractor will provide consultants who can....

[S]erve as reading coaches/mentors in selected schools....

[S]erve as math coaches in selected schools....

[S]upport school staff in the review and analysis of a variety of academic data... standardized achievement data, attendance data, and classroom data....

[P]rovide professional development and technical assistance to school staff in the area of curriculum mapping....

[M]entor school principals to promote the use of best practices targeted at leadership strategies and practices that have been proven to improve student achievement....

[F]acilitate regional professional development meetings with the Associate Deputy Directors and Education Line Officers

[A]ssist the BIE in the provision of national professional development in the areas of scientifically research-based instruction in reading and math and effective, evidence-based, educational leadership practices....

Consultants must have.... documented evidence of serving as an instructional coach in schools with high populations of Native American students. ... a collegiate background in the area(s) of reading and/or math and/or educational administration or leadership.... current knowledge related to reading and mathematic assessments.... experience with facilitating grade-level, cross grade-level, and/or school level data analysis team meetings.....

My Thoughts: Important work for a lot of Native American children. Work that doesn’t look like it will be subject to the competition most likely to get those kids the best service at the best price. Solicitation RMK0E080008 isn’t any better. Will any provider ask why?

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